Does the particle 'no' have a kanji?

[blessed]

well, thats basically my question... just I was looking through a dictionary and stumbled upon one (dont have japanese script so cant write it) that was described as the kanji for the particle... except that I thought that particles cant be written in kanji.. :?:?

 

[PaulTB]

except that I thought that particles cant be written in kanji.. :?:?

You thought wrong. Remember that at one point every single bit of Japanese was written in kanji - most of the particles used then are still used now hence most particles have, in theory, a kanji.

The kanji for の is 之

鳥之巣 【とりのす】 birds nest

or 乃

乃 【の】 (1) (arch) (uk) possessive particle; (2) clause nominalizer particle
波乃花 【なみのはな】 salt; crest of a wave

I've seen the first used more but both are archaic and shouldn't be used in normal writing. (Typically found in proper names and proverbs).

 

[Scrivener]

之 is still common in Chinese as a possessive "particle" (zhi).

You'll only see it in archaic contexts in Japanese though.

 

[Glenn]

I thought it was a remnant of classical Chinese, being replaced nowadays with 的 (de), except in old idioms, etc.

 

[Fantt]

Wouldn't it look sort of out of place to use the archaic kanji for の in a modern sentence (being one written to convey information to a contemporary audience).

Regardless of how it looks, would the average Japanese person understand what it means? Kind of like how most Americans have at least some familiarity with "thee" and "thou."

 

[Glenn]

Yes and yes. The kanji isn't used nowadays, unless the user intends sarcasm or humor, I would imagine. And I'm sure that Japanese people have an idea of what it is, and probably look at it in the same way that we look at "thee" and "thou," as you mentioned.

 

[jonny-mt]

Keep in mind as well that for proper names (schools, streets, people, etc.) you might find the katakana ノ written between kanji (i.e. 山ノ森、木ノ葉[隠れ里 XD]) with the same function as its hiragana counterpart. I would imagine that would be used before you'd find 之 in a sentence.

 

[Scrivener]

I thought it was a remnant of classical Chinese, being replaced nowadays with 的 (de), except in old idioms, etc.

Oh yeah I guess that is right actually. I study Classical as much as modern so I get a bit confused... But still old idioms are a common part of modern Chinese...

Regardless of how it looks, would the average Japanese person understand what it means? Kind of like how most Americans have at least some familiarity with "thee" and "thou."

When I lived in Japan I often saw it in old writing (on scrolls and things) and I asked people at my university tea club, and they knew what it meant.